Flying Dog Brewmaster and COO, Matt Brophy, just appeared on The Brewing Network’ Sunday Session. When talking about Flying Dog Pearl Necklace Oyster Stout, he stopped short of saying it is official that it would go year-round though the company feels “there is room for another year-round style.” Brophy noted that they were really excited about Pearl Necklace and that they are considering making Road Dog Porter a special once-a-year release. Given the growth of Raging Bitch IPA and capacity constraints, the writing seems to be on the wall for Road Dog Porter as a year-round offering at this point.

Speaking of capacity, Flying Dog is currently at 100,000 barrels capacity. They just added four new 200-barrel JV Northwest fermenters to the 50 barrel JV Northwest system (which has two kettles), bringing fermentation capacity at any given time to just over 6,400 barrels. Brophy expects to hit capacity in 2012 or 2013.

The canning line will go into operation in a couple weeks and Underdog Atlantic Lager is scheduled to be the first beer to come off the line on April 2nd. Snake Dog IPA will follow soon thereafter.

On the legislative front, Growler Thursday is on hold until they can get Maryland to change the law requiring customers to buy beer in new growlers as opposed to being able to bring in old refillable growlers. Brophy said the law defeats the purpose of the program though they are making progress with the state on the issue. Brophy also said that the Raging Bitch freedom of speech case in Michigan is still ongoing on grounds of principle, despite the beer now being available in the state now.

When asked whether the brewery has any sours coming this year, Brophy revealed that they are working on two versions of a Berliner Weisse, one with sour cherries that will be draft-only beginning in May, and a regular version that should be available beginning in August.

Brophy also said that they are contracted for a while on hops for Raging Bitch so no need to worry about hops or recipe changes related to that beer.